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Traces of Presence – Interview with Stella Iakovleva

Stella Iakovleva is a visual artist working with photography, artist books, archives, collage, and installation. Raised in a circus family and originally trained as an actress and dancer, she later studied at the Rodchenko Art School in Moscow and the Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts. Her work explores memory, adaptation, and the subtle transformations that shape our relationship to people and places.

You grew up in a circus family and initially worked as a dancer and actress. In what ways does your artistic practice remain performative today, even when it takes the form of photography, books, or installations?

Performance taught me to trust intuition, timing, and presence. Although I no longer work with my body directly, my photographs are still rooted in attention to gesture, atmosphere, and those brief moments that are easy to overlook but impossible to recreate.

You speak of a philosophy of “Move to Live”. How would you define this idea?

For me, movement is much more than physical action. I share Akram Khan’s idea that movement is a way of thinking. The way we move shapes how we perceive, feel, and relate to the world. To move also means to change, to question yourself, to adapt, to remain curious. Life is never static, and neither is artistic practice. Staying in motion means staying open to transformation.

In “Fairy Land”, you refer to Georges Didi-Huberman and his idea that images open up a space for what remains unseen. What role does theory play in your artistic process, is it a point of departure or a form of reflection that comes afterward?

Theory usually comes afterward. I work intuitively and emotionally, and only later do I sometimes discover philosophical ideas that resonate with what I have already made. Those encounters help me understand my own work better, but they rarely become its starting point.

How does our perception of a place change when we encounter it through waiting, uncertainty, or estrangement?

It changes completely. A place becomes less about geography and more about your emotional state. Waiting and uncertainty can create distance, but they can also sharpen your attention. I think curiosity is essential. The more actively you engage with a place, the more familiar it gradually becomes, even if that process takes time.

Your work often addresses states between wakefulness and sleep, presence and absence. What attracts you to these liminal conditions?

I’m interested in mythical thinking and in the idea that there are things we cannot see but can sometimes sense. Those moments often appear on the threshold between sleep and wakefulness, where perception becomes less rational and more intuitive. That space has always fascinated me.

You have been based in Germany since 2024. Has the experience of relocation changed your relationship to photography?

After moving to Germany, I rediscovered analogue photography. Before, I saw it simply as one technique among many. Once I started working with film, I realized it offered a completely different experience of time and materiality. At a moment when so much of our lives exists as data, analogue photography gives memories a physical presence again. That is something I find increasingly important.

Many of your works revolve around things that disappear. Plants, memories, social rituals, cultural spaces. Is loss a productive category for you?

That’s an interesting question because I had never thought about my work in those terms. Loss and change are inevitable, and memory is never stable. We often remember events differently from how they actually happened. I don’t think I’m trying to preserve the past. I’m more interested in acknowledging the people, places, and experiences that shaped me, even if they no longer exist in the same form. At the same time, I’m interested in the choices we make every day, because they shape whatever comes next.

What questions concern you more today than they did two years ago?

My concerns have definitely changed. I’m thinking much more about the climate crisis, geopolitical instability, and the impact of ongoing wars on everyday life. At the same time, I’m driven by curiosity. I keep asking myself what comes next and whether artists have the ability to influence the way people see the world.